Mortgage Rates Head South Again

Mortgage interest rates fell for the third time in the last four weeks after rising to their highest levels since last summer in mid-March according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS) for the week ending April 11th, 2013.

Fixed Rate Mortgages:

Interest rates on fixed rate mortgages were down from last week with the 30-year fixed rate mortgage falling nine basis points this week to 3.43 percent with an average of 0.8 points. Mortgage rates for the 30-year fixed mortgage have been under four percent for 55 consecutive weeks. A year ago, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.88 percent.

Average 30-year rates were generally the lowest in the North Central portion of the United States where mortgage rates averaged 3.39 percent while the highest rates were reported in the Northeastern and Southwestern areas of the country where interest rates averaged 3.45 percent.

The average rate for a 15-year fixed mortgage also declined this week, falling to 2.65 percent with an average of 0.7 points from an average of 2.74 percent last week. Mortgage rates for the 15-year fixed mortgage have been under three percent for 46 consecutive weeks. At this time last year, the 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.11 percent.

Adjustable Rate Mortgages:

Interest rates for adjustable-rate mortgages were also down this week with the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid ARM averaging 2.62 percent, with an average of 0.5 points, down from an average of 2.65 percent last week. The 5-year adjustable rate mortgage averaged 2.85 percent a year earlier.

The 1-year Treasury-indexed adjustable rate mortgage averaged 2.62 percent with an average of 0.3 points, down slightly from last week’s average of 2.63 percent. A year ago, the 1-year adjustable rate mortgage averaged 2.80 percent.